1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for managing bandwidth in a broadband wireless access system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In line with ongoing growth of the Internet user population accompanied by increasing interest in broadband wireless communication, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 broadband wireless access (BWA) system has emerged to satisfy the demands of users for communication service with the high quality of a wired environment in a wireless environment.
IEEE 802.16 standardizes a broadband wireless communication system that can provide not only high-speed broadband data communication service but also high-speed voice communication service to users through high-speed broadband communication.
In the broadband wireless communication system, a plurality of subscriber stations connect to one base station through a downlink channel and an uplink channel between the base station and each subscriber station.
The downlink channel is classified into a pilot channel, a broadcast channel, a traffic channel, and a traffic control channel. The traffic channel is further classified into a burst traffic channel, a dedicated traffic channel, and a signaling channel.
The uplink channel is classified into an access channel and a traffic channel. The access channel is further classified into a channel for accessing an uplink according to a contention-based method, and a channel for accessing an uplink according to a contention-free method. The traffic channel is further classified into a burst traffic channel, a dedicated traffic channel and a signaling channel.
According to a broadcast method, the broadband wireless access (BWA) system uses the downlink channel through which a signal is sent from the base station to each subscriber station. And, the base station of the broadband wireless access (BWA) system allocates an uplink bandwidth to each subscriber station, so that the broadband wireless access (BWA) system uses the uplink channel through which a signal is sent from each subscriber station to the base station.
The efficiency with which the uplink bandwidth is utilized is one of the most important factors affecting quality of service (QoS) in the broadband wireless access (BWA) system.